


Adore You

by kindredspiritsxo



Category: High School Musical (Movies), High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Road Trips, Roommates, Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindredspiritsxo/pseuds/kindredspiritsxo
Summary: "No way am I rooming with Big Red! I love him to death but I would like to sleep in peace. Is there anyone else I can room with?""Well, uh, no one is rooming with EJ?"
Relationships: Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith, Ricky Bowen & E.J. Caswell, Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell
Comments: 83
Kudos: 381





	1. Chapter 1

_walk in your rainbow paradise…_

  
Winter break was nearing for the students of East High and everyone at the school was bouncing with excitement. The eagerness for a break from school, Christmas, and the New Year was looming in the air. Though the production of High School Musical: The Musical had been a success among students and the local community, the cast of the musical needed a break. So, they all decided to take a trip to celebrate their hard work.

At first, the cast didn't know what they wanted to do, or even where they wanted to go. After a few weeks of not having any solid plans, Carlos— the production’s choreographer— told the group that after Christmas his aunt and uncle would let them go to their cabin in upstate Utah for the week.

It took everything for Nini to convince her moms to let her go, but _she would still be home for Christmas!_ She just wanted to spend time with her friends and just relax after all of the work that they put into the show. As for everyone else's parents, it was easy. They didn't have that big of a problem with it, as long as they didn't drink or do anything crazy. They're not going to do that— right?

So it was settled, they were going to take a trip to Carlos' aunt and uncle's cabin for a week and a half. Who else would be going? Well, Nini, Ricky, Big Red, Gina, EJ, Ashlyn, Carlos, Seb and Kourtney. They were all counting down the days until they could go, especially with Carlos mentioning that they got a large amount of snow upstate.

Ricky was looking forward to getting away from his house and his father. Although, he should want to spend time with his dad— he just needed a getaway. It felt good to spend time with Nini and not have feelings towards her anymore. He also found a home in the cast of High School Musical, it was like a part of him was always missing and he found himself throughout the course of the show.

So, there he was, almost three days until their trip, Ricky just heard the news that his best friend is just so happening to bring his CPAP machine with him on the trip.

"Dude, I'm sorry, but I can't just not take it with me? Do you want me to stop breathing during my sleep? I could die!" Big Red exclaimed, using his hands for emphasis.

Ricky rolled his eyes, "But I can't just not sleep for a week and a half! I've tried to sleep in the same room with you and that machine— numerous times— it's torture!"

Big Red leaned against the locker beside Ricky's, watching as Ricky put in his combination into his lock. "I completely understand. But if you're not rooming with me, then where are you going to sleep?"

Ricky shrugged and opened up his locker, "The couch maybe?"

"I doubt people will want you on the couch," The redhead replied, "It's just people get up at different times and no one wants a sleeping Ricky in the living room."

Ricky scrunched his nose, seeing where his friend is coming from. He finished putting his books in his bag and threw his bag over his shoulder. He then closed his locker, "I guess I'll just have to talk to Nini and see what she has to say. Who knows, maybe Carlos needs a roommate."

"Not happening. I heard from Kourtney that heard from Ashlyn that Seb and Carlos are rooming together. You know, since they're boyfriends."

Ricky sighed. Worst case scenario he's sleeping in the bathroom.

—

Ricky scanned the halls for Nini or Kourtney, both of them were in charge of the rooming situations. After heading down the hallway, he spotted the two girls he was looking for.

"Nini! Hey!" Ricky called after his ex-girlfriend who was standing at her locker with Kourtney by her side.

She looked up at him with a smile, "Hey! Are you excited for the trip? Three days!"

Ricky nodded his head, "Yeah— about the trip."

Nini furrowed her eyebrows and then looked over at Kourtney, who had a skeptical look spread across her face. The two girls waited for his response.

"I cannot room with Big Red. It's just not going to work out."

Nini frowned, "Why not? Is everything okay between you two?"

Ricky laughed, and nodded his head, "Yes, everything is fine. But, long story short— he has sleep apnea and because of that he has to sleep with a CPAP machine." He explained to the two girls in front of him.

"It's torture. I've tried so many times to sleep in the same room as him and I thought I'd get over it but I can't. And to make it worse, he puts on this red— no, white noise thing and it has a rainforest setting— it's just horrible." Ricky said all too quickly, leaving Nini and Kourtney to take it all in.

"Oh." Nini said, looking over at Kourtney.

"That sounds horrible." Kourtney attempted to suppress her laugh.

"I'm sorry but there just no way am I rooming with Big Red! I love him to death but I would like to sleep in peace. Is there anyone else I can room with?"

Nini and Kourtney exchanged worried looks, knowing that Ricky would not like this answer, "Well, uh, no one is rooming with EJ?" Nini said, her voice going high at the end of the sentence.

Ricky felt like he was going to fall over. _EJ_? EJ Caswell out of everyone in the cast? He's the only person who needs a roommate?

"You're kidding, right?" Ricky stared at them.

"Nope. I guess no one really wanted to room with him." Kourtney explained to Ricky, who was debating whether or not he wants to suffer and share a room with EJ for a week or to not sleep at all.

Ricky swallowed, not knowing if he really wanted to room with EJ. There's no way he can do that, but there's also no way he'll have fun if Red is keeping him up at night. It might not be so bad, right? Sure, EJ is a stuck-up, arrogant jerk in Ricky's eyes but they don't even have to talk to one another. All they have to do is sleep in the same room as each other.

Nini and Kourtney literally were watching Ricky as he contemplated the situation in his head. It took a whole minute for Ricky to finally let out a deep breath and look up at the girls. "I'll room with him."

Kourtney raised her eyebrows at the curly haired boy, “You sure about that, Ricky?"

Ricky nodded his head, "Yeah—yeah, I don't even have to really talk to him. We'll just be sleeping in the same room." He shrugged at Nini and Kourtney, who had skeptical looks on their faces.

Nini nodded her head slowly, "Alright, I'll let EJ know."

Ricky nodded his head triumphantly and thanked the two girls, then turned on his heel and walked away. Kourtney and Nini both watched as Ricky stalked off down the hallway. As the watched Ricky disappear around a corner, Nini turned to Kourtney.

"You really think this is a good idea?" Nini questioned her best friend beside her.

Kourtney shook her head, "Not at all. They're going to kill each other."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! here’s chapter two, it’s pretty long but i wanted to get it going!! i hope you enjoy<3
> 
> also!! if you want to connect with me or get updates on this work/lost and found my twitter is @wqndering

_strawberry lipstick state of mind..._

Ricky Bowen, some may call him the king of being late, some may call him a procrastinator, and some may even call him a slacker— all of which are perfect ways of describing him. He always dragged himself to rehearsals late, he always found himself getting to school late and he was even late today. What's today? Oh, today is the day after Christmas. Today is the day when he and his friends were taking a trip upstate.

Ricky somehow put off packing for the trip, even though his father and Big Red reminded numerous times. It's not that Ricky didn't remember to pack, he just didn't feel like it. Story of his life.

He just finished shoving an obscene amount of clothing into his duffel bag when his dad called him from downstairs. Ricky quickly ran into the bathroom down the hall, grabbing his toiletries and then returning to his room to put them in his bag.

"Ricky!" His dad called him again, "all of your friends are going to be mad if you're late."

Ricky let out a small groan, zipping up his duffel bag and then throwing his backpack over his shoulder. He exited his room and headed down the hallway to the stairs. He found his dad waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised. "Why do you always wait until the last minute to do anything?"

Ricky shrugged, "I work best that way."

His dad rolled his eyes and turned towards the door, "Let's go."

Ricky followed his dad out the door to his car, put his belongings in the back seat and then sat in the passenger seat. Ricky's dad pulled out of the driveway and headed to Nini's house, where everyone was meeting.

—

"Nini— you're actually kidding me, right?" EJ felt his face getting hotter, his voice rising as he heard the news of him sharing a room with Ricky. Everyone stood around them awkwardly watching this interaction.

"EJ, it's fine, all you have to do is sleep in the same room. No big deal!" Nini attempted to smile but seeing how stressed EJ was about this made her smile falter. Nini decided everyday to push off letting EJ know that he was rooming with Ricky. She knew how Ricky felt about the situation and didn't want to tell EJ about it. Before she knew it, it was the day they were leaving and it was time to tell EJ about it.

EJ sighed loudly, looking away from Nini, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I don't know," Nini replied quickly, "I know how the two of you feel towards one another and I didn't want it to ruin the trip."

EJ was about to say something but was interrupted by Ricky's dad pulling into Nini's driveway. Everyone watched as Ricky climbed out of the car and grabbed his belongings from the backseat. Ricky and EJ made brief eye contact for a moment, but then Ricky bent down to say goodbye to his father.

Carlos ran to Ricky's side, taking his backpack from him to put it in the back of Nini's car.

"Have fun, kid— be safe, make the right decisions..." Ricky's dad began rambling on, his hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. Ricky rolled his eyes.

"Dad, it's only a week and some days, I'll be fine." Ricky reassured his father, "It's you I should be worried about." A small smile spread on his dad's face.

"Alright, I'll let you go."

And with that, Ricky's dad drove away. Everyone watched Ricky turn around and Ricky smiled awkwardly, walking over to Nini's car to put his duffel bag in the trunk, "Sorry I'm late."

"Not a surprise." EJ said under his breath the same time that Nini spoke up.

"It's okay, Ricky." Nini quickly turned to EJ, glaring at him.

"Alright, since everyone is here, maybe we should figure out the car situations?" Carlos spoke up, pointing towards Nini's car and EJ's. "There's nine of us, so that means we can have four in one car and five in the other."

The cars had just gotten finished being packed with everything that the group needed. Their belongings, food for the week (actually it could last them a whole month), and even the alcohol that Seb's older sibling supplied for them.

Ricky, who was standing by Big Red, turned to his friend, "Let's not get separated." He whispered.

Red rolled his eyes, "Aw, darn, I really just wanted to leave you with EJ." He snickered, nudging the curly haired boy's side.

"Hey, how long is the drive?" Ashlyn piped up, her question aimed towards Carlos.

"It's about an hour and a half."

Somehow, everyone silently divided themselves into groups of five and four, while Big Red and Ricky were deep into conversation to even realize what was happening. The two boys were interrupted by Gina, who's words cut their conversation short, "I guess you guys are going with EJ!"

The boy's snapped their head to the EJ group which consisted of EJ and Ashlyn. While Nini's group consisted of Kourtney, Carlos, Seb and Gina. Ricky and Red turned to each other with a frown, then made their way over to EJ and Ashlyn. Ricky and EJ both avoiding eye contact, of course.

Ashlyn and Big Red shared uncomfortable glances, the two of them seemingly reading each other's minds—this is going to be a blast.

With that, everyone decided that it was time to go. They had been standing outside in the cold and it had just started to snow lightly. Ricky shoved his hands in his coat pockets after he climbed into the backseat of EJ's car beside Big Red. Ricky observed the interior quietly, examining his clean leather seats and how it smelled of pine trees. His car was so clean compared to Ricky's.

Ricky slumped into the seat and attempted to look everywhere but EJ's direction. Before pulling out of Nini's driveway, EJ turned to everyone— everyone meaning Ashlyn and Red— and said, "Do you guys want aux or should we just listen to the radio?"

Red shrugged, "Radio's fine with me."

EJ nodded at him and looked towards Ashlyn, "Yeah, I'm fine with that. Put on 95.8." The girl in the passenger seat hummed.

EJ obliged and put on 95.8 FM without a word and pulled out of the driveway, following the direction of the GPS.

Half way through the drive, Ricky was sick of hearing the conversation between Ashlyn and EJ. Not that it was the subject that he was annoyed with, he just really didn't want to listen to EJ's voice anymore. Occasionally, he and Big Red would converse about something funny that they saw on Twitter and share a laugh. Big Red eventually put his headphones in and soon after, Ricky did the same.

Ricky stared out the window, looking out at the snowy trees that stood next to the highway. His mind was clouded with thoughts of his parents, the musical and evidently—EJ. Ricky really did not want to share a room with him. Does he snore? Does he talk in his sleep? How late does he stay up?

Ricky's eyes wandered to the front of the car. Ashlyn has her feet on the dashboard and she appeared to be humming along to the song on the radio. Ricky's gaze travelled to EJ, who had one hand on the steering wheel and was tapping his finger along to the beat of the song. Ricky caught himself watching EJ for a moment too long and he looked up into the rear view mirror and found EJ's gaze.

Ricky quickly tore his eyes away from the mirror and looked back out his window.

After what seemed like a ten hour car ride, the group landed themselves in a small remote town called Ewan Creek, which Carlos' family cabin was situated in. It was a cute little town, with family-run shops/businesses littering the town and Christmas lights still hung on the lampposts, trees and buildings. They were about five minutes away from the cabin and the GPS brought them onto a long side road surrounded by a forest of trees.

Then they turned right onto a winding road. Soon enough, the GPS told them to take another right and then they pulled onto the stone driveway of Carlos' family cabin. Their eyes landed on this "cabin" and it certainly was not what they expected when Carlos mentioned a cabin.

Ricky gaped at how large this cabin was. It was a two story wood paneled building with a large wrap-around porch. It was surrounded by the snow covered woods and from what they could see there was a small frozen-over pond in the backyard.

"Holy shit," Ashlyn finally said, as they took it all in.

"That's insane," Red said, hitting Ricky's arm. Ricky looked over at the redhead with a smile growing on his lips.

EJ parked his car and they all climbed out. The four of them were hit with a cold breeze but the air was clean and, to Ricky, smelled like a real-life version of EJ's car. As they made their way to the trunk, Nini's car pulled into the driveway.

EJ opened the trunk, handing the bags to their respective owners. The group in the opposite car climbed out and there was already chaotic energy being emitted.

"Carlos! This is sick!" Gina squealed as she admired the large wood cabin in front of them.

Carlos let out a laugh, "My aunt and uncle are loaded."

"This is so exciting, you guys!" Nini exclaimed, while popping her trunk open so they could get their luggage. Everyone scrambled to get their bags as it was about 38 degrees outside. They all grabbed as much as they could handle in one trip and started to make their way up to the house.

When Carlos unlocked the door, everyone rushed inside and gaped at what they saw. It was gorgeous. Stepping in they were met with the sight of a large living space, with the biggest sectional couch anyone has ever seen. The living room contained a large fireplace with family pictures spread across it. The ceilings were very high, which opened the room up tremendously. Through the archway was the kitchen, accompanied by a long dining table.

Everyone ran in and dropped their things, squealing as they ran around the cabin. Seb ran to the kitchen and found that there was a sliding glass door that allowed them to see the backyard. Seb peered out the door and saw that there was a hot tub on the patio, "Theres a hot tub!" He yelled out to the others.

Carlos smiled at the blonde boy, who was clearly excited about the existence of the hot tub.

Kourtney and Nini ran up the stairs, in which they had been secretly plotting to claim a room before anybody else got to.

Seb and Carlos caught onto them and ran up the stairs behind them, earning confused looks from Ashlyn, Gina, Red, EJ and Ricky.

The girls then caught on, "They're going to pick out a room!" Ashlyn exclaimed, grabbing her back and taking Gina's hand in her's. They both ran up the stairs, mirroring the actions of their other friends.

Ricky swallowed and looked over at Red, who gave him a reassuring smile. Ricky knew that his friend wanted to go find his room and he sent him an "it's okay" nod. Big Red smiled widely and grabbed his bag, running up the stairs leaving EJ and Ricky standing in the doorway.

The pair avoided eye contact and they surely were not going to talk to each other. EJ ran his fingers through his hair, moving around the room and examining the place. Ricky cleared his throat, "Uh, we should probably put our things in our room."

EJ's blue eyes found Ricky's and without a word, he nodded his head. The two of them picked up their bags and went up the stairs, hearing loud squeals coming from the cabin's second level.

They reached the top of the stairs and peered down the hallway with six rooms in sight. Three on each side. The pair glanced into the first room on the right, which Nini and Kourtney had already claimed. Okay, not that one. The first room across on the hall on the left was claimed by Seb and Carlos. The next room on the left was actually a closet. _Too bad Ricky couldn't stay in there._

The room across from the closet was claimed by Gina and Ashlyn. They moved to the next on the left and of course, Big Red had claimed it and from what they saw— he was already setting up his CPAP. So, they two boys finally made it to their designated room. Ricky twisted the handle and opened the door, revealing a large room. He walked in with EJ behind him.

Their eyes scanned the room. There was a closet and a door (probably a bathroom) on the left side of the room, with a dresser between the two doors. On the other side of the room there was a queen sized bed accompanied by two nightstands. Wait— _what?_

"Oh my god."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! here’s chapter three, she’s kind of a long one i hope u like it <3
> 
> also a few side notes for the story:  
> ej and nini never dated  
> & ricky is canonly bisexual :-)

After about an hour of begging Nini and Kourtney to switch rooms with them, Ricky and EJ realized they two girls were not giving it up. You see, Nini and Kourtney had the only room that did not have a queen sized bed. Their room had two twin beds and Nini was not giving it up. She claims, _"after how many years of having Kourt sleep over, you think I would get used to her kicking me in the face."_

So they weren't going to give up their room.

Finally, Ricky and EJ defeatedly went back to their room. Ricky sat down in ten chair that was placed in the corner as EJ took a seat on the edge of bed. The two sat in silence with awkward tension looming in the air.

EJ cleared his throat, "I could sleep on the floor."

"For a week and a half? That's crazy." Ricky retorted, his eyes flicking over to EJ.

"So what do you suggest?" EJ said almost instantly, looking at Ricky from across the room.

"We could take turns?"

"That could work." EJ shrugged and nodded his head, feeling slightly uncomfortable to even be having this conversation with Ricky. They've never really talked, besides from when they were forced to do scenes with each other for the musical. Even at cast parties and rehearsals, the two boys never batted an eyelash towards one another. It was always strange whenever they interacted. It always felt uncomfortable and forced.

Ricky just nodded his head, running his hands down his jeans and then stood up from his seat. He went over and grabbed his duffel bag, placing it on the chair. He was already regretting the decision of rooming with EJ. What was he thinking? This is so uncomfortable and they're barely talking to each other.

EJ felt the exact same way. He didn't know what to do with himself or how he was going to feel comfortable around the curly haired boy for the next week and a half. Something that EJ would never admit to anyone or even to himself is that Ricky ultimately intimidated him. And that threatened EJ, which is the main reason why he didn't like Ricky.

The two boys' silence was broken by a knock at the door. They both turned their heads to see Red and Ashlyn, standing in the doorway, with sheepish smiles across their face. The pair knew how awkward this was for them, so they decided to go check up on them.

Red and Ashlyn eyed their room and saw the bed almost immediately, attempting to hide their grins but failing miserably.

EJ rolled his eyes, "Don't say a word."

Ashlyn put her hands up as a surrender, "Hey, I didn't say anything."

"You're thinking it." EJ stood up and walked over to Ashlyn.

Ricky and Red looked at each other, Ricky's face basically begging him for help. Big Red caught onto this, "Hey, Ricky, want to come see my room? I finally got my CPAP set up."

Ricky grinned slightly, trying not to laugh at his best friend, "Yeah, sure." Ricky zipped up his bag and then followed Red out into the hallway, out of his room which felt like he was being suffocated because of the awkwardness.

Ricky patted Red on the back as they made their way to his room, "Thank god you saved me."

Red looked back into the hallway, making sure that no one could hear their conversation, then turning back as the coast was clear, "Dude, I know, I could actually feel how uncomfortable it was."

Ricky looked around his room, it was pretty much the same as his but just in the opposite direction. He then sat on the edge of Red's bed, "We are taking turns sleeping on the floor. Why did I do this to myself?" He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking up at Red.

"I'm sorry, you know you can always sleep in here." Red replied, sitting down on the bed next to him. Ricky sighed and stared at the dresser in front of him.

"Can't do that. I don't want him thinking that I can't handle sharing a room with him just for him to get the room to himself."

Red laughed, "So it's like a competition?"

Ricky shrugged, looking over to Red, "Hasn't it always been a competition between us?"

Meanwhile in the other room, EJ laid on the bed staring up at the ceiling. He had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Ashlyn sat on the edge of the bed, trying to cheer her cousin up from his uncomfortable state. It wasn't working. At all.

"Who knows, EJ, you two might actually become good friends!" Ashlyn said, turning around to look at her older relative. He looked up at her with a glare, and Ashlyn rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you don't even really know him!" Ashlyn said, slouching as she was trying to knock some sense into EJ. She knew she would never change his mind about anything. Especially when it came to Ricky.

"I don't have to, Ashlyn. I just don't like that guy."

"EJ, something good might come out of this. I have a feeling."

EJ laughed to himself, "You say that about everything. I doubt that this will be any different."

"No, I'm serious this time. I think the two of you can really work this out. Maybe this is just the way of doing that."

EJ stayed silent and stared at the ceiling. Although he really didn't like Ricky, maybe Ashlyn was right. Maybe the two of them did just need to work things out. But, EJ was just too stubborn to admit when anyone else is right.

Ashlyn sighed loudly, "Look, just be nice to him, alright? Maybe you'll get it in return."

Before EJ could respond, Nini and Kourt bursted in their room and informed them that Seb and Carlos ordered a pizza and that it would be there soon. Both EJ and Ashlyn hadn't realized how late in the day it was. It was about 5:30pm, so the four of them all walked downstairs with one another.

—

An hour and two whole eaten pizzas later, the whole gang all sat themselves on the couches in the living room. On the sectional couch sat Carlos, Seb, Nini, Kourtney, Ashlyn and EJ. On the opposite crouch sat Red, Gina and Ricky.

"Guys, I'm so happy we're doing this. I can tell it's going to be so much fun!" Nini exclaimed, holding her cup tightly with two hands. With her words, Ricky glanced over to EJ. It seemed as if he read his mind because EJ, too, was glancing in his direction.

After he tore his eyes from EJ, Ricky's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of him. He wondered what he was thinking about. What does he think about? What does EJ think about him? Does he dislike him as much as Ricky does him? Why does he care?

Quietly sighing, Ricky decided to pay attention to the conversation. Carlos was reminiscing over one of the Christmases he spent at this cabin when he was younger. Seb was hugging Carlos' right arm, looking up at the brunette with such admiration. Ricky watched intently, a part of him wishing that he had someone to look at like that. He remembered how he felt with Nini, how good it felt to be with her and to be in love. Though times have changed and they no longer harbor feelings for one another, it was nice to have a person. Was Nini _his_ person?

"Guys! I think we should play a game to kick off our stay here." Gina said, smiling excitedly. Everyone agreed with playing a game.

"What do you think we should play?" EJ asked Gina.

"Oh! Have you guys ever played paranoia? It's really fun." Gina asked looking around and most of them never had played the game.

She clapped her hands, moving into a criss-cross position, "Alright, so everyone is in a circle," she gestured to where everyone was sitting, "Then one person starts and whispers a question into the person to their right's ear, and they have to say who they would think the question would apply to. Then, someone flips a coin and if it's heads— you say the question out loud and then if it's tails— you don't say the question. Hence, the name paranoia." Gina explained.

Ashlyn grinned, "That sounds like fun!"

"Oh cool!" Red exclaimed, sitting up in his seat.

"Yeah! We should play." Kourtney said, turning towards Gina. Ricky smirked sitting up, actually excited to play this game with everyone.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Nini asked and Seb raised his hand quickly.

"Alright so think of a 'most likely to' type of question and ask Carlos who he think it would be." Gina explained to Seb. Seb nodded and paused for a moment, trying to figure out a question to ask his boyfriend. He smiled slightly, and covered his mouth against Carlos's ear, whispering his question.

"Worst dancer here?" Seb whispered and then pulled away.

Carlos scoffed, "Easy. Ricky."

Everyone looked towards Ricky and Ricky furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what the question could be, "Hey!"

Gina flipped the coin and it landed on tails. Ricky groaned, bummed that he would never know what the question was. So, Carlos turned to Ashlyn and he already had a question on his lips.

"Most likely to make out with a stranger?"

Ashlyn raised her eyebrows, thinking about the question for a moment. "I'm going to have to go with Gina." And everyone turned to look at Gina, who smiled slightly.

"Oh, I agree!" Carlos grinned at Ashlyn and then turned to Gina, who was about to flip the coin.

Gina flipped the coin and it landed on tails, she sighed in defeat but quickly got over it, waiting for Ashlyn to come up with a question for EJ. Everyone watched as Ashlyn attempted to come up with a question for her cousin.

She finally came up with one, turning to EJ and whispered, "Who would be the fakest person here?" She pulled away from EJ, and waited for his answer.

EJ stopped for a moment, no one really coming to mind. He never thought anyone here was fake, but he just had to go with the only person he would ever say this about— even if it wasn't true, "Ricky."

Ricky's eyes darted to EJ, his lips parting slightly and then everyone got quiet. They didn't want to hear what the question was.

EJ swallowed, silently hoping that it would land on tails, for the sake of sharing a room with Ricky. So they all waited for Gina to flip the coin, and when she did, it was tails.

EJ let out a breath and avoided eye contact with Ricky, as he tried to think of a question for Big Red. Ricky looked towards the ground, wondering what the question was.

He decided to forget about it as much as he could and focus on everyone else. He watched as EJ whispered something into his best friend's ear and he felt something in the pit of his stomach for a quick second, but then it left as EJ pulled away from Big Red.

The question? It was: who is most likely to have a wet dream tonight?

Big Red laughed, his cheeks slightly reddening, "Ricky."

Ricky looked over to his best friend, who was laughing to himself and then to EJ who had a slight smile across his face. Without saying anything he looked to Gina, who flipped the coin and finally it landed on heads.

Everyone was excited to hear what the question was. Big Red chuckled, "It was who is the most likely to have a wet dream tonight. Sorry—" Red put his arms up in defense as Ricky hit his arm.

"Dude! Not true!" Ricky's face reddened, just as Red's.

Everyone burst out laughing as they watched this scene play out. EJ watched Ricky carefully, watching him as he laughed with his red haired friend beside him. EJ felt something unfamiliar in the pit of his stomach for a split second, snapping out of this once Red was whispering something into Ricky's ear.

"Most kinky?"

Ricky furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes scanning the group. Then he finally settled on one person, "Carlos."

The coin was flipped and it landed on heads and Big Red said the question aloud to the group. Everyone laughed and agreed with Ricky's pick. Seb looked over at Carlos and raised his eyebrows, "Kinky?"

Carlos laughed, shrugging, "We'll see."

Everyone groaned at the two of them. Being the only couple out of them and a bunch of people who wished they had a significant other had many disadvantages.

—

The game went on until everyone wanted to climb into bed. They all cleaned up their plates and drinks, along with the kitchen and then they headed up the stairs to their designated rooms. Saying goodnight to everyone, Ricky followed EJ into their room and Ricky shut the door.

Ricky swallowed awkwardly, already uncomfortable to be alone in the same room as EJ. The two of them stood on complete opposite sides of the room, avoiding eye contact and not really saying anything. Ricky's eyes wandered to the bed and he thought that it looked so comfortable.

EJ saw this and cleared his throat, "I'll take the floor tonight."

Ricky looked up at him, "You sure?"

EJ nodded his head, "Yeah, it looks semi-comfortable." He shrugged, nodding his head towards the floor.

Ricky slowly nodded his head, moving over to the bed. He grabbed the extra blanket and a pillow from the bed and handed it to EJ. EJ took it and mumbled a small thank you to Ricky, who then walked over to his duffel bag and got a pair of sweatpants from his bag.

He cleared his throat, lifting his hand to the back of his neck, "I'm going to get changed in here." He gestured to the bathroom and EJ nodded his head in return.

Ricky scrambled into the bathroom, the awkwardness almost suffocating him. He did his business and changed into his sweatpants, as slowly as possible just so he didn't have to go back out there.

Ricky finally talked himself into going back out into the room, after all he had to go to sleep. The only reason he ever agreed to rooming with EJ was because he wanted a good night sleep. So he opened the door and found EJ already laying on the floor. Ricky walked over to his bag and put his things away, then silently headed over to the bed. Climbing in, he got comfortable. 

Ricky wasn't sure if he should turn the light off yet, but decided just to go for it instead of asking. As the light turned off, the two boys both stared up at the ceiling. Their minds filled with many different thoughts about what happened tonight.

As the two silently drifted off to sleep, they both felt something strange in the air, but weren’t able to explain it to themselves.

This was going to be a long trip.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! hope everyone had a great new year, happy 2020 <3  
> this chapter is kind of a filler but don’t worry we have some rj drama coming next chapter ;)

Ricky woke up squinting his eyes because of how bright the sun was shining through the windows. He sat up slightly, rubbing his eyes, trying to figure out where he was. He scanned the room and then he remembered he was in the same room as EJ. His eyes darted to the floor and EJ was nowhere to be found, but only the pillows and blankets that scattered the floor. Ricky turned over and grabbed his phone to check the time. It was 9:37 am.

Ricky dropped his phone back on the bed, and stared at the wall in front of him. He then noticed that the bathroom door was closed. EJ was probably in the bathroom.

EJ had just gotten out of the shower and much to his dismay, he forgot his clothes in the room. Mentally groaning to himself, he weighed out the pros and cons of the situation. Pros— he gets his clothes. Cons— Ricky is awake and sees him in just a towel. EJ didn't know why this bothered him so much. He really didn't want to go out there in just a towel, but he had to do what he had to do. Besides, Ricky was probably still sleeping right?

So, then, EJ grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist after he finished drying off. Sighing, he reached for the door handle and twisted the nob, opening the door slowly and quietly just in case Ricky was still sleeping. EJ finally opened the door and, of course, their eyes met.

Ricky's eyes landed on EJ's eyes but then traveled down to his wet torso, and he swallowed. He was really toned, which made Ricky's eyes widen. His lips parted slightly and he felt something in his stomach as he watched EJ walk out of the bathroom.

"Sorry, man, I didn't realize you were awake." EJ said, swallowing, and quickly tore his eyes from the boy who had just woken up. He then walked over to his bag and grabbed his clothes.

Ricky watched him carefully, trying not to stare but he couldn't not stare at him. EJ was really attractive and Ricky couldn't deny that even though how much he didn't like him. Ricky looked back up at EJ as he turned towards him.

"Yeah—no, it's fine." Ricky finally spoke, his voice deep and raspy since he had just woken up. EJ's lips parted slightly and paused for a moment before nodding and going back into the bathroom.

As EJ closed the door he let out a breath. What was it about Ricky's morning voice that made him feel _that_ way? Why did it make him feel that way? The only thing that EJ could come up with is that it's weird to see Ricky laying in bed half asleep. It just made him feel weird. Right?

Ricky tried to forget about how attractive EJ looked in just a towel. But, it was all over his mind. It was annoying, like _sure_ , Ricky was attracted to guys that were way out of his league. He just didn't want to be attracted to EJ Caswell.

Let's just hope this whole _EJ-walking-out-of-the-bathroom-shirtless_ situation isn't a common occurrence.

Ricky finally got the image of EJ’s body out of his brain after scrolling through his texts, trying to think of anything but that to get rid of his hot cheeks. All he did was remember that it was EJ. The same EJ that he despised and was basically his sworn enemy throughout the course of the musical.

 _Alright_ , Ricky thought, _that never happened. Erase that from your brain right now. Why would you ever think that about EJ?_

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, EJ finally had got dressed for the day but did not want to go back out there. As if it wasn't already weird and just completely uncomfortable between them, that whole thing had to happen. Looking at himself in the mirror one more time, sighing, he grabbed the rest of his belongings and braced himself for another uncomfortable encounter. As he opened the door and his eyes went to the bed, he found that Ricky was no longer in bed or even in the room.

Ricky had quickly gone to Red's room to get himself out of the room and he found his friend had just finished getting ready for the day. The redhead didn't ask any questions but rather didn't say anything about EJ, he just asked if Ricky wanted to go downstairs to get breakfast.

Ricky instantly obliged, feeling his stomach grumble with hunger. The pair of teenage boys headed down the stairs only to see Seb and Carlos standing in the kitchen, putting out the cereal that they packed on the kitchen's island. "Hey, sleepy head." Carlos laughed at Ricky's disheveled appearance.

Ricky rolled his eyes and headed towards the cupboard that held the bowls, grabbed one, then turned and grabbed the Lucky Charms box. Pausing, Ricky looked up at the three boys, "Do you put milk in the bowl first? Or the cereal first?"

Seb looked at him with a confused expression, "Ricky... have you never had a bowl of cereal?"

Ricky and Red both laughed wholeheartedly, and then Red chimed into the conversation, "I think you pour the milk in first."

Carlos glanced and Seb and then to Ricky and Red, "I hate you guys." Carlos glared at them, "So much."

Ricky chuckled and poured his bowl of cereal, then he poured his milk in. After looking in one too many drawers, the curly haired boy finally obtained a spoon to eat his cereal with. Ricky was leaned over the counter, eating his cereal when Nini and Kourtney came down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

"Good morning!" Kourtney and Nini said in unison, their voices all too cheery for Ricky to be hearing at this time in the morning. Ricky was not a morning person. The boy just stared at his cereal, counting the number of marshmallows that he could find. _Around 16 marshmallows. Not enough. Never enough._

"Ricky, why haven't you showered?" Nini nudged him, bringing him out of his marshmallow thoughts.

"Someone was in the bathroom." Ricky mumbled, taking another bite of his cereal.

"Yeah, Ricky, you look like hell." Kourtney agreed, slightly chuckling as she pouring herself some Cheerios. She suddenly received a glare from the brown eyed boy, who was trying to eat his Lucky Charms in peace.

Frowning, Ricky realized he had finished all of his marshmallows, leaving only the actual cereal part of it. "You know, why don't they make it mostly marshmallows and then some of the Cheerios? Does not make any sense." Ricky thought out loud, receiving questioning glances from everyone.

"What did I just walk into?" Chimes in Gina as she walked into the kitchen area, followed by Ashlyn.

"Ricky's just having a small crisis over here." Carlos said, his eyes widening slightly as his head nodded towards Ricky. Ricky just shook his head and continued to eat the rest of his cereal.

"Were you the one that slept on the floor?" Ashlyn asked curiously, gaining everyone's attention.

Ricky swallowed and shook his head. He went to say something but Red cut him off, "Nope, EJ actually slept on the floor."

And then EJ walked in the kitchen and everyone turned to him, as if they were just talking about him. EJ had just heard a glimpse of the conversation at hand while walking down the stairs and pretended not to hear it, but his eyes immediately darted to the boy leaning over the counter over his bowl of cereal. Ricky's eyes met his as he slowly chewed.

Ricky dropped his spoon into the bowl and adverted his eyes over to Nini and Carlos, "What's the plan today?"

Nini shrugged and looked over to Carlos, who was right beside her, "Well, Seb and I were talking about trying out the hot tub. I think it'd be fun, plus it's super cold out, like, 29 degrees. It'd feel really nice."

"Oh, you're right! That sounds so nice." Ashlyn said excitedly.

"I've never been in a hot tub." Said the red haired boy beside Ricky. Ricky hit his friend's chest, making Big Red wince in return. The boy's hand flew up to his chest, ghosting the place where he just hit.

"Dude, what was that for?" Red asked.

Ricky laughed, "Remember my dad took us on that snowboarding trip up in the mountains? We went in the hot tub there!"

Red looked up at the ceiling as if he was trying to recall this memory, "Oh yeah— I'm dumb, sorry."

Everyone laughed at the boy's slight stupidity in this moment. Even EJ laughed, as he sipped on his coffee while standing beside his cousin. After a little more chit chat, everyone decided that in about an hour they were going to hit the hot tub, which Carlos mentioned could fit all nine of them.

The kitchen was slowly clearing out and Ricky's decided he was going to take a shower right now, while EJ was in the kitchen. He really didn't feel like waiting until after the hot tub to take his shower so he headed up the stairs and to the room.

While rummaging through his bag for his swim trunks, Ricky's eyes widened at the sudden realization that he's going to have to see EJ shirtless. Again. Not even two hours after the shower incident.

_Can he ever keep his shirt on?_

—

So there everyone was, sitting side by side one another in the squished hot tub. They all were soaking up the nice warmth of the water as a cool breeze blew through the air. Carlos and Seb were sat next to each other, Carlos attempting to relax with the jets hitting his back while Seb was splashing him with the water.

"This feels so good." Gina said, sighing in relief while closing her eyes as she sunk more of her body into the steaming water.

EJ and Ricky sat on opposite sides of the tub and Ricky made a mental note to look everywhere but at EJ. EJ, too, made it a point not to look at Ricky. He wasn't sure if it was obvious or not that he was trying not to look towards him. Since when did he try this much when it came to Ricky?

Instead, EJ sparked up a conversation with Nini and Ashlyn. "What are we going to do later?"

"Actually, Gina and I were talking and we thought it would be fun if we all watched a movie tonight." Ashlyn suggested.

"That would be so fun!" Kourtney said, chiming into the conversation.

"Okay! We should make hot chocolate!" Nini replied, nodding her head eagerly.

"So what movie should we watch?" Red asked the group, while concentrating on the bubbles forming from the jets in front of him.

"We should watch a movie that everyone knows, you know— a classic." Seb said, trying to think of a classic that everyone knows and loves. Carlos really wanted to watch Legally Blonde but no one other than Gina was into that option.

After a moment of silence and thinking, Ricky lifted his head to say his suggestion to the group. He opened his mouth at the same time as EJ, who apparently, had the same idea as the curly haired boy.

"Grease!" Both Ricky and EJ said in unison, which made their heads snap to each other at once.

Everyone looked at them for a moment. Weird.

"Ricky Bowen, you like _Grease_?" A confused Carlos asked the boy, causing Ricky to tear his eyes from EJ's. Ricky's eyes lit up at the question and nodded his head quickly. EJ's eyes were still on Ricky and as he watched him light up at Carlos, he felt himself smile slightly.

"Of course! Who doesn't like Grease?" Ricky said, looking towards Carlos, waiting for anyone's objection. "It's my mom's favorite movie, so we used to watch it all the time."

"Anyone object?" Kourtney asked the group and no one seemed to disagree.

"Okay, then, it's settled. Grease it is!" Ashlyn said, raising her eyebrows at EJ, knowing that it was one of his all time favorite movies. EJ rolled his eyes at his cousin, knowing that Ashlyn was trying to get to him about him Ricky liking the same movie.

_Sure, they might share the same love for Grease. It doesn't change anything._

—

Everyone slowly trickled out of the hot tub one by one but left Carlos and Ricky. Carlos stayed because he hadn't had enough of the warm water on his skin. The only reason Ricky stayed in was because he really didn't want to be faced with another awkward EJ interaction. It was never a fun time.

So as large, fluffy, snowflakes fell from the clouds above, Ricky and Carlos sat in silence enjoying the space to themselves. Ricky stared into the backyard, admiring the scenery. In the distance there were some snow covered mountains and right in the backyard were a small patch of woods, with a frozen pond next to the deck of the house. Ricky had never seen anything so calm and beautiful.

"So why exactly are you rooming with EJ?" Carlos finally broke the silence, making Ricky turn his head to look at him. Carlos had his head rested on the edge of the hot tub and his eyes were closed as he awaited Ricky's response.

Ricky's lips parted and he paused for a moment. He thought that everyone knew why they were rooming each other. Isn't it practically the talk of the group?

"No one ever told me why." Carlos peeked his eyes open, shrugging as Ricky nodded his head slowly.

"Red has sleep apnea so he brought his CPAP machine. I've tried to sleep over many times with him and that machine and it's just unbearable." Ricky explained to the dark haired boy across from him. "I just didn't want to deal with it, I guess."

Carlos nodded his head, processing the information, "So how is it? Rooming with EJ? I know it's been only a day, but I'm curious."

Ricky groaned, throwing his head back in annoyance. He lifted his head back up to look at Carlos, "To put it lightly? Horribly."

Carlos stifled a laugh, rolling his eyes, "Come on, it can't be _that_ bad."

Ricky turned and peered back into the house through the glass doors, seeing EJ (fully dressed) having a conversation with Ashlyn and Gina. Ashlyn must have been saying something comical because EJ clapped his hands, throwing his head back in a fit of laughter. Ricky swallowed, turning back to Carlos.

"Well first of all there's only one bed. There's no way we're sleeping in the same bed. Second, we don't even talk to each other! It's just awkward silence all over the place. I hate it." Ricky sighed, crossing his arms, "Worst of all, first thing I woke up to this morning was seeing him in only a towel."

Carlos laughed loudly, then seeing that Ricky was not pleased with his reaction, he pressed his lips into a thin line, "I just thought you were going to say that he snores loudly or something."

Ricky shook his head.

"Ricky, you're telling me that you don't think seeing EJ Caswell in just towel is the best thing in the world?" Carlos asked, his eyebrows raising at the curly haired boy.

Ricky stared at Carlos. Well, he wouldn't put it like that. It definitely is a wonderful sight, but Ricky would never admit that to anyone. Not even to Carlos. "Of course it isn't! I don't want that to be happening every morning!" 

Carlos rolled his eyes, "Alright, whatever floats your boat, Bowen."

With that, Carlos got up out of the hot tub and grabbed his towel. He was almost out of the water, with the towel wrapped around his shoulders, when he turned to Ricky, "You know I think this could be good for the two of you. The rooming together thing. Something good could come out of this."

Ricky went to say something but stopped himself. Carlos went inside and left Ricky sitting in the hot tub alone, staring straight into the backyard with a head full of thoughts regarding a certain someone.

—

Ricky had taken the opportunity to have the room to himself when he got out of the hot tub and saw that Ashlyn, Nini, Kourtney and EJ were all sitting in the living room eating snacks. Ricky had said hi to all of them, while avoiding eye contact with EJ, as he walked past and went up the stairs to his room.

He took a deep breath when he got back in the room, closing the door behind him. His eyes landed on the neatly folded blankets that were placed on the bed, Ricky also noted that the bed was made too. Was EJ a neat freak? That was a large contrast to Ricky, who couldn't care less if the room was a complete mess.

Tearing his thoughts from that, he went over to his bag and grabbed a pair of grey, baggy sweatpants along with a plain black t-shirt. Walking into to the bathroom, Ricky shivered as the cold air hit his bare skin. Ricky quickly dried off and attempted to change into his clothes as quick as possible.

After changing his clothes, he walked into the, thankfully, still empty room. Ricky grabbed his phone from the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed, opening his phone and sending a quick text to his dad.

**ricky: hey dad, just checking in hope everything is good with u!**

Ricky shut off his phone shortly after, tossing it onto the nightstand and deciding it was time to go back downstairs. He got up from the bed and headed towards the door, his hand was on the door handle and he had just opened the door when he was faced with an unexpected guest about to open the door.

Ricky and EJ both jumped in surprise, neither of them expecting someone to be on the other side of the door.

"Holy shit." Ricky said in almost a whisper, holding his chest from the moment of surprise.

EJ, too, was holding his chest in surprise. His breathing was heavy, looking everywhere but at Ricky's face, "Sorry, I didn't expect you to be coming out."

Ricky nodded his head slowly, the two standing there for a moment— not really knowing what to say or what to do. Finally, their eyes met for a brief moment.

Ricky's lips parted and he brought his hand up to the back of his neck, rubbing it slowly, "I, uh, I'm headed downstairs. We're probably starting the movie soon."

EJ cleared his throat and nodded his head in response, tearing his eyes away from Ricky's as he moved out of the way for Ricky to head down the hallway. Ricky took the opportunity and quickly walked down the hallway as EJ walked into their room.

The two of the simultaneously let out breaths they didn't know they were holding in, both really regretting this whole rooming situation. They don't even know how to act around each other, how did Ashlyn and Carlos expect something good to come out of this?

—

"Extra marshmallows for Mr. Bowen." Nini said, handing the coffee mug full of hot cocoa and marshmallows to Ricky, who sat next to Red on the loveseat. Ricky looked up at Nini, smiling softly and taking the mug from her. She handed another mug to Red, who gladly took it from her.

In the kitchen, Gina and Kourtney we're getting candy and popcorn ready for the whole gang to enjoy while watching Grease. Seb and Carlos were already snuggled up together with a blanket laid across them. Seb rested his head into Carlos' shoulder as they waited for their hot cocoa and snacks.

Ashlyn and EJ came down the stairs together, immediately going into the kitchen to help Kourtney and Gina bring all the snacks into the living room. Red had previously logged into his Netflix account to find that Grease was available to watch on there. So it was already on the TV.

EJ and Ashlyn both sat down on the couch with Ashlyn sitting beside Red.

Finally, everyone got settled on the couches and the movie started. A few of them made an occasional comment on how cute the outfits are, how pretty Sandy is or how cute Danny is— all of which received a glare from Ricky, who was trying to concentrate on his favorite movie.

Throughout the movie, EJ would steal glances at Ricky. He didn’t know why he kept looking towards him, or why he couldn’t stop himself from doing so. He found himself doing it during one of the musical sequences, when Ricky was quietly singing along and nodding his head to the rhythm of the music.

But, EJ didn’t know that Ricky also would look in EJ’s direction. He would quickly look over to him as he heard EJ’s laugh fill the silence at some random scene or when he would whisper something to Ashlyn. What was he talking about?

To make himself feel better, Ricky would look at everyone else. Kourtney, Nini and Gina were all sharing a bowl of popcorn along with a pack of peach rings. Ricky remembered how peach rings were Nini’s favorite during a movie, remembering this made him smile slightly. Glancing over to Seb and Carlos, he observed that the pair were cuddled up to one another— Carlos was playing with Seb’s hair.

Ricky looked away and focused back on the movie. As he said before, Ricky had watched this movie a thousand times with his parents but he never got tired of it. He loves the feeling he gets while watching it, it was almost like he were with both his parents, cuddled up in a blanket watching Sandy and Danny in amazement.

Before they knew it, the movie ended. Everyone expressed their feelings towards the movie and someone (Seb) even suggested that they should put on a production of it sometime.

Everyone had cleaned up after their discussion and then they all headed to their rooms. Ricky found himself growing more tired by the end of the movie and he was actually excited to climb into bed— oh. He was actually sleeping on the floor tonight.

When EJ and Ricky silently entered their room, Ricky headed to the bathroom and got himself ready for bed. Once he was finished, EJ was patiently sitting on the edge of the bed waiting to use the bathroom. The two boys still didn’t say a word to each other, not knowing what would make this silence less deafening.

EJ was in the bathroom when Ricky noticed that the pillow and blanket where now on the floor, still folded neatly in a small pile. He walked over to an outlet and plugged his phone in for the night, receiving a goodnight text from his father. The thought of texting his mother popped in his head, but he decided not to. He still hasn’t healed from learning that his mother had a new boyfriend.

EJ came out of the bathroom, which allowed Ricky to be torn away from his thoughts. Sighing, Ricky shut off his phone and set it on the nightstand. EJ was now in a black t-shirt with some writing on it (probably something that had to do with water polo), but Ricky tried not to look at him for too long.

EJ made his way to the bed and he climbed in, just as Ricky got settled on the floor. With that, EJ turned the light off. Silence engulfed the pair for the thousandth time that night but it let the two of them drift off into sleep.

What could day three have in store for these two?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi all im so sorry this took so long (literally a month) and ik it’s kind of all over the place so i hope i don’t disappoint. enjoy!  
> also yes i had to include rina bc i love them <3

Day three. Ricky has been awake for the past 20 minutes, staring up at the plain white ceiling. He was thinking. Thinking about ways to not make today as awkward as it has been, but he could not come up with a single thing. Was it always just going to be awkward silences, avoided eye contact and a strong dislike for one another?

If they actually got along, he could be sleeping in the bed right now.

The floor was not comfortable in the slightest. Sure, the carpet was unbelievably soft but it was nothing compared to the bed. Ricky could be sleeping on a bed right now, in Big Red's room, but he most likely would not be getting any sleep. Right now, he wished that he and EJ were at least friends so he could be sleeping on the bed.

Maybe he was just being dramatic. _EJ didn't complain about the floor being uncomfortable._

Ricky frowned to himself as he realized that his thoughts were being clouded, once again, by EJ Caswell.

Tearing his thoughts away from his on-stage-best-friend, he quickly jumped up from the floor and walked over to his phone to check the time. It was 8:47am and Ricky sighed. He could be sleeping right now!

He glanced over to the boy sleeping on the bed, weighing his options to go back to sleep or to take a shower. He then looked over to his spot (a single pillow and a blanket) on the floor and decided it did not look pleasing. Walking over to his duffel bag, Ricky made a point to grab his clothes. You know, so there wasn't another towel incident.

Before entering the bathroom, he looked back at EJ for a moment. He was sleeping soundly on the bed. His arms and legs were tangled between the bedsheet and the comforter, his mouth slightly open as he slept, his hair tousled in every direction. Ricky observed how his tan skin looked against the white bedsheets.

He looked peaceful and at ease, which made Ricky pause for a moment to think. Seeing him this way felt weirdly personal to Ricky, seeing as this is a time when you are most vulnerable. Seeing him like this made it seem like he could be a good person, not the arrogant jerk that Ricky sees him as. He was just a boy.

EJ stirred in his sleep, causing Ricky to panic slightly and quickly rush into the bathroom. He shut the door gently since he didn't want to wake EJ from his slumber.

Ricky went about his business, taking a long shower. Longer than he usually does. Ricky is the type of person to take a 20 minute shower and use up all of the hot water. This time, though, is mostly because he didn't want to face EJ this early in the morning—it's all been too much. Tiring, almost. They've been dancingaround the fact that they both despised one another and it has to come to a halt sooner or later.

Once Ricky finally shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, he dried himself off and changed into a pair of jeans and an orange hoodie. Next, he turned to the sink and brushed his teeth.

After cleaning up the bathroom the best that he could, Ricky braced himself to face EJ. Once he entered the room, his eyes landed on the other boy, who was sitting at the edge on the bed.

EJ looked up at him with sleepy eyes and a blank expression. Ricky awkwardly pressed his lips into a forced smile and then proceeded to put his belongings away. Meanwhile, the dark haired boy got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom without a word.

Once EJ was in the bathroom, Ricky let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. He thought back to when he watched him sleep for a few seconds, it just felt too intimate for Ricky.

He decided to leave the room and see if Red was awake. Knocking on his door gently, he waited for his best friend to open the door. On the other side, Ricky could hear shuffling until the door swung open to reveal a bright eyed red head, still in his pijamas.

"Hey, man." Ricky brought his hand up to his neck, rubbing it gently.

"Hey, what's up?" The boy opposite him replied.

Ricky shrugged, "Just wanted to get out of there. Want to do something?"

Big Red looked up for a moment, thinking about their options, "It's like what— ten now? What could we do?"

"I don't _knoooow_. Something!"

This is how their planning usually went. The two boys were beyond indecisive when it came to making plans. Most of the time they end up sitting around playing Fortnite for hours. Too bad they couldn't do that here.

The pair thought about it for a few minutes, spouting out ideas left and right until they decided on taking a walk. Carlos had mentioned that there is a trail through the woods and that it's beautiful during the winter.

"Alright, well, give me a while to get ready and have breakfast. Then we can go." Big Red said, holding onto the handle of his door.

Ricky nodded his head, "Yeah. Okay."

Big Red said a quick goodbye and closed his door.

Ricky just wanted to get out of the house. Mostly because of the one and only EJ Caswell. He was everywhere. He couldn't even escape to his room to get away from him. And it was all too much for Ricky.

He then decided to go downstairs and get something to eat. Upon entering the kitchen, the boy was greeted by his ex-girlfriend, who was leaning on the counter with an apple in one hand and her phone in the other. She wore a green sweater and jeans. She glanced up to meet his eyes with a cheery smile, "Hey!"

"Hey." Ricky smiled back as he made his way to the refrigerator. Opening it, he grabbed the milk from the bottom shelf and set it on the island's countertop.

"How did you sleep?" Nini asked curiously, setting her phone on the counter behind her.

Ricky shrugged, "Well, I slept on the floor so it could have been better." He said pouring cereal into a bowl, then added milk to the Lucky Charms.

Nini nodded her head slowly, "You know, the two of you could just suck it up and sleep in the bed together. I don't think it's that deep, Ricky."

Ricky sighed audibly, sending a glare in Nini's direction. This is not what he wanted to be talking about at 10 in the morning, let alone any time of the day.

The brunette girl rolled her eyes at him, "I don't even understand why the two of you hate each other. There's no reason for it."

"There's something up with him, Neens." Ricky replied, scooping some of his cereal into his mouth. He heard the girl across from him chuckle softly.

"EJ is actually a great guy, I don't think he has anything to hide. If he did, he wouldn't document his whole life on Instagram."

"That's the just thing, actually. No one does that!" He huffed, aggressively dropping his spoon into his cereal bowl. Nini watched him carefully for a moment with a raised eyebrow and Ricky looked back at her, attempting to figure out what was going on inside her head.

Ricky knew Nini like the back of his hand, the two had been inseparable since kindergarten but he couldn't read her in this moment. It was like there she was trying to put puzzle pieces together but not getting anywhere.

And, truthfully, Nini couldn't figure out why Ricky hated EJ so much. Sure, Nini did have a small crush on the EJ for a short period of time after they broke up but it's not like the two of them dated or anything. She knew Ricky inside and out but this was one thing that puzzled her about him. Where did this anger and resentment come from?

" _Actually_ ," Nini pushed her thoughts to the side and pointed her phone at Ricky, "a lot of people do that. Instagram models? Youtubers? EJ Caswell isn't the only one."

Ricky rolled his eyes in response but not being able to come up with a reply, he mumbled,"It's just not normal."

Before Nini could say anything else, Gina came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. She greeted her two friends while she grabbed a mug from the cupboard and placed a mug onto the coffee maker.

"Do you guys know what we're doing tonight?" Gina asked, turning herself around and leaning on the counter.

Nini nodded slowly trying to recall what her friends wanted to do, "Oh! I think Seb said something about wanting to play truth or dare or just drink. Or both— I don't remember." She giggled as she tried to peace it together.

Ricky nodded his head silently, finishing the last of his lucky charms and walking over to the sink, rinsing his bowl out and then putting it away.

"I think we're all in need of a drink." Ricky commented as he closed the bowl cabinet, turning to the two girls. Ricky felt a little strange, having his ex-girlfriend and the girl he had a huge crush on in the same room together. Neither of them lasted, though, and that's okay. Not everything lasts forever.

"Definitely. Especially you, Bowen." Gina teased her good friend and he smiled back at her, rolling his eyes, "You've been so tense lately. Loosen up."

Ricky felt a smile creeping on his lips as he stared at the girl with soft curly hair, "Fine, only if you do too."

Gina laughed, "Of course I will."

Big Red came down the stairs in this moment, with a new outfit on and seemingly wet hair. He entered the kitchen with a bright smile on his face, greeting his friends with a polite hello. He went over to the cabinet and grabbed the box of Cheerios, pouring them into a bowl.

—

Ricky and Big Red walked side by side in silence down a path through the woods. It was a clear but cold afternoon, with snow covering the trees around them. Occasionally, the pair would bump into each other as they tried to walk carefully in the snow.

"I wish we were watching Fortnite in your basement right now, it's cold as shit out here." Ricky said through his teeth, rubbing his hands together as he shivered.

Red laughed, "Me too, dude. But it's not everyday that we actually get out into the great outdoors!" He replied, trying to make their situation seem better.

The two of them didn't really plan their escapade very well. Currently it is 27 degrees and the two teenage boys didn't pack their winter coats. Why you ask? It doesn't make any logical sense since the two live in Utah, where it snows and the temperature goes below freezing more than often.

Their noses were red just like their ears, they looked almost like clowns, walking through the snowy forest in nothing but hoodies and jeans.

"I think we underdressed." Ricky stated, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his cold jeans.

"You think?" Red rolled his eyes, breathing heavily as they trudged through the snow, "It feels like my toes are going to fall off."

Ricky wanted to laugh, but he found that he could barely move his face. Why the hell didn't they bring winter coats? He knew they were stupid, but not _that_ stupid. It's almost like that time when you're a kid and you're mom tells you to bring a coat but you don't bring one anyway because coats are lame! And then you need up needing one. _Really bad._

"Do you think we should head back? We've been walking for ten minutes and it feels like my insides are going to be frozen solid." Big Red asked his best friend.

Ricky nodded his head eagerly and then the two of them headed back, "I think we're in dire need of the hot tub."

"D-Dude, I know." The redhead shivered, sniffling as they continued to walk through the snow. He wanted to enjoy this little walk with his best friend since they haven't gotten to spend time together alone on this trip, but it was a little hard to enjoy themselves when it's below freezing.

The two fell silent for a moment until Red spoke up again, "I wanted to talk to you about something." 

"Yeah, what's up?" Ricky looked over to his friend and shivered, his blue Vans not doing a great job in keeping his feet warm.

"Don't get mad at me, alright? I just was wondering why you hate EJ so much. He's actually pretty cool." Red shrugged, staring down at the snow they were walking on, preparing himself for Ricky to freak out.

Ricky threw his head back and sighed loudly, stopping in his place, "Am I just not allowed to not like the guy?" He said, throwing his arms up in the air, "I thought you didn't like him either, Red. I thought we were on the same page!"

The other boy, who had stopped a few feet ahead of him, shook his head, "Well, I thought he was annoying with his Instagram influencer shit but then I thought he was pretty cool at the Thanksgiving party."

"Why does everyone care so much about my feelings towards him? It's not a big deal." Ricky basically ignored everything his friend just said, and then started to walk again.

"The two of you are making this trip kind of miserable for everyone, Ricky. With your stares and comments about him, I mean him too— he does the same thing." Red pointed out, walking a little faster to catch up with the curly haired boy in the orange hoodie.

Ricky furrowed his eyes, "I do not stare at him."

Red chuckled, "Yeah you do. A little too much actually, is there a reason for that?"

Ricky scoffed, "I _do not_ stare at him, Red. His whole thing he has going on just annoys me! Why would he even come on this trip?" He crossed his arms, not daring to look towards his best friend walking quickly beside him.

"Because he was apart of the musical? And we're all his friends? Why wouldn't he come on this trip?"

Ricky ignored Big Red's question with a loud sigh, "Can we stop talking about this please? I'm sick of everyone talking to me about EJ freaking Caswell. Like there's anything I have to talk about there."

Red knew that there was more to this, just like Nini knew there was more to this but they couldn't figure it out. What was it that bothered him so much? He knew that if he kept talking about it, it would be like talking to a brick wall. _Useless_.

So they walked in silence back to the cottage, finding everyone sitting in the living room. As they entered the back door, everyone looked at them, trying to hide their laughs. They all seemed to find this amusing, the fact they went on a walk without winter boots or jackets.

Ricky's eyes instantly went to EJ, who stared right back to him. He adverted his eyes to Gina when she spoke up, "How was your walk?"

Ricky looked down at the bottom of his jeans, which were soaked, just like his blue vans. Their faces were pale, their noses were bright red and it almost looked like they were both Rudolph the reindeer.

Ricky rolled eyes, scoffing at his group of friends, "If you don't mind, Red and I have some business to attend to." He stated, pointing out the window at the hot tub on the back deck.

Carlos presses his lips in a like, attempting to hide his amusement, "Looks like you guys need it."

With a final glance in EJ's direction, Ricky and Red made their way up to their rooms while discussing how annoying their friends are. Ricky separated from Red as they arrived on the second floor, and entered his room. He gathered his clothes, quickly going into the bathroom and peeling his cold, wet clothes from his body.

—

After about two hours of Ricky and Red sitting in the hot tub and after eating dinner, everyone decided that it was time to hang out. Thanks to Seb’s sibling, they gathered all of the alcohol in the kitchen and picked the drink of their choice.

The living room was dimly lit by the fireplace and from the lights being on in the kitchen. It was nearing dusk, so the sky was turning from an orange color to a dark purple. Everyone sat around in a circle, alcoholic drinks in hand, ready to play a game of the classic Truth or Dare.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Seb asked everyone, sitting up in his seat on the couch as Carlos took his beer out of his boyfriend's hand and taking a sip of it. Seb quickly snatched it back and sent a playful glare in his direction.

Ricky smiled at this small interaction but his smile faded when EJ spoke up, raising his hand and saying, "I will." With his whole chest.

Ricky rolled his eyes, feeling an annoyance grow in his chest as he saw his confidence he was trying to give off to his friends. Bull.

"Truth or Dare?" Seb asked EJ, raising his eyebrows as EJ though about his decision.

"Dare." EJ said almost right away.

Seb thought for a moment, turning to Carlos for help, and then he whispered something in his ear. After receiving a positive reaction from his boyfriend, Seb looked towards EJ, "I dare you to kiss the person to your left."

 _Oh. So we're going all in right right away,_ Ricky thought to himself. He his eyes widened as he noticed that it was Nini who was to the left of EJ, who nodded to notify the athlete that it was okay.

So he did it. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and Ricky swallowed as everyone cheered, feeling a burning sensation in his chest. Of course, he has every right to feel this way, he just watched his worst enemy kiss his ex-girlfriend. That's it.

Ricky looked at his face in the moments after, finding that his face was unreadable. He didn't seem proud of it, nor did he didn't seem like he enjoyed it. Weird.

EJ raised his eyebrows on who he should challenge next, his eyes never even glancing in Ricky's direction, "Carlos. Truth or Dare."

Carlos sat up in his seat, taking a sip of his alcoholic, strawberry flavored seltzer in his hand before saying, "Truth."

EJ nodded his head slowly, "Who in this room would you switch lives with for a day?"

Ricky took a sip of his beer, swallowing quickly, not liking the bitter taste of it. Everyone waited patiently for Carlos to answer, wondering who he would want to switch lives with.

Carlos giggled to himself, "I mean, none of you, y'all are boring." He shrugged, a slight smile forming on his face, "But if I had to choose it would be Ricky, I'd like to know what's going on in that head of yours."

Most everyone looked towards Ricky and laughed, "Yeah, I agree." Ashlyn and Nini said in unison.

Ricky furrowed his eyebrows and looked at everyone confused, "Guys I'm pretty boring."

Carlos shrugged, "I don't know, Bowen, I'd like to know why you think things..." Carlos trailed off, things meaning his feelings towards EJ. "Since we're on you, I'll pick you. Ricky, Truth or Dare?"

Ricky pondered for a moment, weighing his options, "Truth."

"Did you have a crush on Gina during the musical?"

EJ watched as Ricky looked towards Gina and then to Carlos, his face becoming redder by the second. He brought his hand up to his heck, "I mean, yeah, but it's long gone now."

"I knew it!" Kourtney said, nudging Gina as she smiled slightly, knowing that this was true. Yeah, they had feelings for each other for a small period of time but they talked through it and decided that it was in their best interest to not be in a relationship right now. As time went on, they found that their feelings were no longer and they were destined to be just friends.

EJ felt himself frown at this information and he didn't know why. He saw something between them during the production and, of course, he didn't know why it bothered him so much. So, he ignored it.

Ricky looked over at EJ for a quick second, who caught his eyes and he titled his head at the boy. Ricky immediately turned his head towards Carlos and cleared his throat, "Okay, um, Neens— Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." She said proudly, sitting up in her seat with a smirk on her lips.

Ricky nodded fondly, "Uhhhh, talk in that horrible British accent for the next two rounds."

Nini shook her head at Ricky, rolling her eyes, "Challenge accepted, mate." She began, making everyone cringe causing her to blush.

Ricky took another sip of his bitter drink, looking in Nini's direction waiting for her to pick someone, "Ah! Kourtney, love. Truth or Dare?" She spoke in the horrendous accent, looking at her best friend across the room.

"Um, lets do truth." Kourtney replied, shrugging her shoulders, fiddling with the drink in her hands.

"Okay, um," Nini thought, though never losing her accent (the alcohol definitely helping), "Who in this room would be the worst to date?"

Kourtney laughed, immediately having a person in mind, "I'm sorry Nina," She giggled loudly, using Nini's full name for affect, "I'm going to have to go with Ricky."

Ricky's mouth dropped and he shot Kourtney a glare, "I'm offended!" He pretended to be hurt as he gripped his chest. Everyone laughed at the pair.

"Okay, it's kind of true though." Ashlyn said, then hiding behind EJ before Ricky could glare at her. Ricky looked at Ashlyn, then to EJ, who had an amused smile on his face.

Ricky swallowed and then looked away, shaking his head, "You guys suck."

"Ashlyn!" Kourt smiled brightly at her, "Truth or Dare?"

Ashlyn's cheeks were already red due to the alcohol she had been drinking, "I'm lame—truth!"

Kourtney nodded, setting her drink down on the coffee table in the center of the living room. "What's your guilty pleasure?"

Ashlyn laughed loudly, "Okay. The _Twilight_ movies! I'm sorry but Kristen Stewart..." She smiled fondly at the thought, then Seb and Carlos laughed together at the girl.

"Those movies are horrible!" Seb exclaimed.

"Yeah, but have you see Taylor Lautner?" Carlos nudged his boyfriends side, and shook his head. Seb giggled and whispered something in his ear.

Ashlyn turned to Gina, "Gina! Truth or Dare?"

Gina smirked, "Dare."

"Yeah, Gina!" Ricky clapped his hands together, sitting up in his seat. EJ glanced over at him, seeing him be genuinely interested in Gina's dare, and then back at the girl.

"Post a story on Instagram saying how in love you are with EJ." Ashlyn said, receiving wide eyes from EJ, who was about to protest but Gina got up and took a picture with him.

Sitting down, she typed a long paragraph on her phone for about two minutes and then she posted it. Then, she turned her phone off like it was nothing and then looked at Red with bright eyes, "Truth or Dare?"

"I'm going to go with Truth."

Gina nodded slowly, "Okay, have you ever used anything of Ricky's without telling him?"

Ricky glanced over to his friend beside him, waiting for an answer. The redhead began to blush as he looked at Ricky and then to Gina, "Once I used his toothbrush."

Everyone burst out laughing, yelling at the boy about how gross that is. Ricky hit Red in the arm, "Dude! That's disgusting!"

He smiled awkwardly at Ricky, knowing that Ricky wants to kill him in this moment, "I'm sorry! Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do." He shrugged and quickly looked away, "Seb! Truth or Dare?"

"Dare!"

"Uhhhh," He thought for a minute, "I dare you to prank call Miss Jenn!"

"Oh man," Seb laughed, pulling out his phone and dialing their drama teacher's number. He put the phone on speaker and they all waited for her to answer the call.

_One ring..._

_Two rings..._

"Hello?"

"Helloooooo, ma'am. This is Roger speaking, from your doctor's office? It seems we discovered a problem with your test results." He said, attempting to deepen his voice, but inevitably failing.

Carlos covered his mouth, attempting not to laugh.

"Seb is that you? How did you get my number?" She spoke into the phone, "Are you drinking?"

Seb sighed loudly, "Yes. I cannot disclose that information and no. Of course not, Miss Jenn!" He giggled into the phone, the alcohol obviously getting to him.

"Alright, Seb, I'm going to hang up now but be safe." She said just before hanging up the phone. Everyone groaned, wishing that the prank call would have worked on Miss Jenn.

"Anywayssss, Carlos! Truth or Dare?" Seb turned to face the boy next to him, putting his hand on his lower thigh.

Carlos looked down at his hand and then back up at his face, "Truth." He smiled.

Ricky loved the two of them together, they're so pure and innocent, a type of relationship that he craved to have. He took another swig of his beer, his eyes flickering over to EJ, who was intently watching Seb and Carlos interact.

Ricky thought about how Red said that he was always staring at EJ and that he was always staring right back. He wondered if that was true and if anyone else had noticed this.

He turned his attention towards the couple, realizing that he had just missed the whole conversation by daydreaming. Everyone was excitedly clapping their hands and squealing because of how cute the two of them are. Ricky furrowed his eyebrows and took another sip of his drink, now feeling the alcohol finally getting to him.

That's when Carlos picked him for the next round, he didn't realize how much the alcohol had been getting to him so he picked truth.

Carlos sat back in his seat, thinking closely about what he could ask Ricky. EJ looked from Carlos over to Ricky, wondering what he could ask him. For some reason, he knew that it was inevitably going to be about him. So he sat up, waiting for Carlos to ask the question.

"Don't lie. How do you really feel about EJ?" Carlos asked and everyone tensed.

Ricky stared at Carlos, wondering what his game is. What could he possibly want from this answer? EJ watched him carefully, as he stared straight at Carlos, his heart rate increasing as he awaited the answer.

Ricky finally licked his lips, "I don't think you want me to answer that."

Carlos nodded his head, the alcohol in his system making him even more confident than he usually is, "Yeah, actually, I do."

Ricky's eyes flicked to EJ's and then back to Carlos, swallowing, "No, Carlos, you don't." He said through his teeth.

EJ sat up, suddenly tensing at the words coming from Ricky. His face became hot, and his eyes waited for Ricky's to meet his. And then they did. They stared at each other for a minute.

Everyone silently watched as the two were finally confronting one another of their feelings, something that has been on everyone's mind since they started the production— why didn't they like each other?

EJ waited for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes, "Alright, truth or dare, Ricky, _how do you really feel about me?"_ His voice was sharp and Ricky stared back at him with an equal amount of anger.

"That's not how you play." Red whispered but was quickly hit by Ashlyn who sent him a glare, hoping that this could end the two boy's little feud.

Ricky straightened his posture, his face serious as he stared at the tense boy opposite him, "I think you're an self-entitled jerk who thinks he rules the school when he really doesn't."

"You're just hiding behind this whole facade, making everyone think you have it all figured out with your thousands of instagram followers, _good looks,_ fucking 4.3 GPA. But in reality, you're just insecure."

EJ felt a part of him crumble as he heard these words, but pretending not to be fazed by any of it. Especially the part where Ricky said that he has good looks. What?

"Well, let's talk about you, Bowen." EJ almost instantly shot back, "You just walked in the production thinking you owned the place, stealing the lead role from me and for what? To win your girlfriend back? That turned out great, didn't it?"

"I worked so hard for that role. It's my senior year and I've been in every one of the school's productions and you took that away from me. Kind of a dick move, yeah? Then again— I'm sure you're used to acting like a dick." EJ retorted, his voice laced with irritation.

Ricky swallowed, feeling the anger coursing through his veins as well as the alcohol he has been sipping on for the past hour. He couldn't believe this was actually happening but he couldn't stop himself from coming right back at the boy opposite him.

"Maybe you just weren't good enough to be Troy." Ricky said, clenching his jaw. EJ stood up and Ricky mirrored his actions.

EJ scoffed, "Everyone knows I would've gotten that role if you didn't show up. You came into auditions with nothing but shit prepared and somehow you got the role! Only to quit the second act on opening night?"

Everyone gasped. Everyone knew the reason behind Ricky quitting the show was because his mom showed up with a new boyfriend. It really hurt Ricky, more than he would have liked to admit.

Ricky stared at him for a moment, attempting to hold back tears that might have been starting for form. He couldn't tell if the tears were because of how angry he is or because EJ just struck a nerve.

"EJ!" Ashlyn said, causing the dark haired boy to turn his head.

"Ashlyn, stop." Ricky said to Ashlyn loud and clear, then turned to back to EJ, "Maybe if you weren't so fucking self centered you would've seen that I was on the verge of a panic attack." His heart was beating against his chest as he stared into his blue eyes.

EJ's face softened for a moment and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Nini.

"Guys, stop this!" Nini raised her voice, quickly standing up getting between the two boys. "This is ridiculous! The two of you don't even know each other, there's absolutely no reason for you to have these made-up assumptions of each other!"

"If you guys actually tried to get to know each other, you would realize that you're wrong about all of this! You two are both insanely talented and amazing people, who would get along if they tried."

Ricky tore his gaze from EJ to look at Nini, who was breathing heavily. In this moment, he realized how stupid all of this was. They were all here for a good time, not for the two of them to constantly be at war. Ricky sighed loudly, quickly looking up at the other boy—who's face had softened as he was going through the same realization. Ricky turned on his heel, setting his drink on the coffee table and stormed out of the living room.

—

It was about 20 minutes later when EJ entered the room. Entering the room, the boy saw a pile of pillows and blankets carelessly thrown onto the floor. On the bed, the curly haired boy was already under the covers, turned on his side and facing the window.

EJ swallowed and walked over to his bag, grabbing his clothes and then heading for the bathroom. He felt terrible about everything that he said to Ricky and he hated that Ricky knew just how he felt. The whole situation was supposed to clear the air but it just didn't sit right with EJ.

The truth is, EJ is insecure. But he never wanted to admit that to anyone and the fact that Ricky saw past his cool-guy act, says something— something that EJ can't quite put his finger on. The curly haired boy must have been paying enough attention to notice this aspect to him. Not many people see this.

EJ quickly changed into his sweats, his brows furrowed in confusion the entire time trying to figure out where the two of them go from here. What is going to happen tomorrow? Are they just going to pretend like this didn't happen?

Once he brushed his teeth and cleaned up his mess, he made his way out of the bathroom. The boy put his clothes away and walked over to the messily thrown bed sheets on the carpet. Sighing, he silently laid himself down on the floor.

In almost an instant, Ricky turned off the light. _Oh. He's awake?_

EJ stared up at the ceiling, his hands placed on his stomach. He wasn't able to sleep, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about Ricky's words and how mad he was when he said them. The way his words cut deep and how he could still feel the sting of his words in his chest. Why did Ricky Bowen's opinion matter so much to EJ Caswell? 

Little did he know that Ricky laid awake, thinking the same exact thing about him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! oh my gosh! i am SO very sorry it took me four months to post another chapter. and u would think that with all the craziness going on in the world and being stuck in quarantine i would find time to write, but clearly it didn't work. i've been slowly writing this for the past four months, and i hope it was worth the wait! also, i hope you all are staying safe and healthy <3
> 
> chapter seven will come much quicker! i have a few ideas planned out for the next chapter that i'm excited to explore :) so, enough of me rambling, i hope u guys like chapter six <3

Ricky opened his eyes to see the sun peaking through the curtains. He groaned, bringing his hands up to his face and covering his eyes, shielding them from the bright light. Suddenly, his stomach twisted as he remembered the events of the night before. _EJ._

He uncovered his eyes and sat up quickly, his eyes darting over to the floor. Much to his surprise, EJ was nowhere to be found but his blankets were neatly folded on the chair in the corner. Ricky scanned the rest of the room carefully and sighed loudly, falling back onto the bed.

After a few moments of staring up at the ceiling, he decided to get up. He shrugged the covers off him and climbed out of bed, carrying himself over to his phone. It was only 10:18am.

He set his phone back down on the nightstand, then walked over to his duffel bag and grabbed the first t-shirt and pants that he could find (hopefully they were clean). After grabbing his belongings, he lazily walked over to the bathroom and got ready to take a shower.

He stood under the boiling hot water for at least ten minutes, trying to get his mind off of the tall water polo-playing boy. Ricky felt like absolute shit for what went down between them—it shouldn't have turned into a big scene and ruined everyone's night. Maybe if they had been more open and accepting to each other from the beginning, the trip would be a lot more fun for them.

Ricky thought that taking the world's longest shower would help him feel like much less of an asshole, but it only made him feel worse as he was consumed by his thoughts the entire time.

Finally, after twenty minutes of standing in the shower, Ricky turned off the water and got out of the tub, taking the towel in his hand and dried his hair off. He had a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, making him feel even more on edge about everything.

He hated that EJ had this effect on him, like, _God, what is that about?_ He's just a guy! And Ricky has hated plenty of people in his life but they've never bothered him this much.

He finished changing and cleaning himself up, and looked at himself in the mirror, "Ricky, get your shit together." he mumbled to himself, before grabbing his belongings and turned to leave the bathroom. He swallowed, hoping that EJ was not in their room at the given moment.

He opened the door, and a feeling of relief washed over him when he saw that there was no one in the room. He threw his clothes onto his duffel bag, making a mental note to clean it up later. He strolled over to his phone and noticed that it was almost 11:15am, and that he was in the shower for almost an hour.

The boy sighed, deciding that it was time to face all of his friends. He left his room silently, walking across the hall and peeking into his best friend's room. Red was nowhere to be seen, so Ricky figured that he had already been downstairs.

Ricky slowly and nervously headed down the stairs, his stomach filled with uneasiness knowing that he would have to face EJ for once and for all. Once he was down the stairs, he scanned the living room, where Seb, Gina, and Red all sat on the couch.

They all looked at him, smiles spreading across their lips, "Good morning, sleepyhead." Red joked, amusement evident in his voice, as if he never sleeps until noon most days.

"Hey." he smiled awkwardly, his eyes moving toward the kitchen area, subconsciously scanning the room for EJ.

"He's not here." Gina spoke up. She's always been able to read Ricky like an open book, ever since they started hanging out back in October.

Ricky glanced over to the girl, her face holding a knowing look, "Right."

He then walked over to the couch and sat beside Big Red, who looked at him with and gave him a small smile, "How's it going?"

"Just great." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Ricky placed his hands on his jeans, fidgeting with one of his belt loops. He cleared his throat, "So, uh, where is he?"

"He left early this morning. I was the only one up but he said something like I couldn't sleep, be back soon. So, I'm assuming he just went into town." Seb explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Ricky nodded his head slowly. He couldn't sleep? _And_ he's been out for a while? Ricky decided to try and push the thoughts from his head, "So... how are you guys?"

"I'm wonderful." Seb grinned, looking over at Red, who was about to say something.

"Gina and Nini made some pancakes this morning, and they made me some, so I'm pretty good." The redhead smiled happily, patting his stomach.

Ricky laughed slightly, shaking his head, "You're living the dream, bro."

"I'm good, too. Not much has happened yet today... I made pancakes, but that's not too exciting." Gina said, holding onto her coffee cup tightly.

Ricky nodded, "Nice, nice."

Before anyone could say anything else, Carlos and Nini came down the stairs, giggling about something that they were talking about. They greeted their friends with a smile before sitting down on one of the couches.

Carlos glanced over to Ricky, who was now occupied with the rip in his jeans.

Carlos got up from his spot and walked over, sitting down right next to Ricky, who looked up at him with raised eyebrows, not used to being in a such close proximity with the boy, "Can I help you?"

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes, "Look, I'm sorry for asking you that truth question last night. It was dumb and I wanted to stir up something... I didn't realize how much it would blow up."

Carlos always had the right intentions, but sometimes he goes about things in the wrong way. Should he have addressed the whole situation differently? Yes. Should he have brought it up during a time when they were all sober? Absolutely.

Ricky noticed how sincere Carlos was being, and he could tell how much it seemed to bother him just by his words— and not much bothered him.

"You know what? It was bound to happen eventually so it's not that big of a deal, but I appreciate it, man. Thanks."

Carlos nodded his head, a small smile forming on his lips, "So, did you guys talk about it?" he inquired, sitting up in his seat.

The curly haired boy looked around, his cheeks reddening seeing all of his friends look at him in curiously. He laughed nervously, "Well—no. We went right to sleep and he was gone this morning."

"I think it's time for the two of you to talk it out." Nini chimed in, leaning against the arm of the couch.

Ricky nodded his head, "Yeah, I mean, I totally agree but it's kind of hard to get him—"

His mouth snapped shut as soon as the front door opened, revealing the tall boy who they were just speaking of. It was quite literally a 'speak-of-the-devil-moment.'

Everyone's eyes landed on EJ, who was holding his keys in one hand and the door handle in the other. His nose was red and he had snowflakes resting in his hair and on his jacket. Suddenly, Ricky felt that familiar warm feeling in his stomach as his eyes scanned his disheveled appearance up and down.

EJ's eyes flicked to his almost right away, catching him in the act. Ricky's cheeks flushed and quickly looked down at the carpet, swallowing nervously.

"Hey, guys." EJ said slowly, kicking off his boots and shutting the door behind him.

The room was filled with a large amount of tension, more than there ever had been before, and no one really knew what to do.

Seb cleared his throat, "So where'd you go?"

Ricky lifted his head up to peek at him, noticing how his hair was messier than he had ever seen it before—usually it was perfectly sculpted with a large amount of hair gel. Now, it was gently laying across his forehead and Ricky thought it suited him better.

Ricky's eyes widened at his thought and tried to push it in the back of his mind, and as he tried to get it out of there, EJ's voice cut through his thoughts, dragging him away from them.

"Uh, just drove into town." EJ replied, as if trying to find an excuse for why he left, "I remembered that I needed to get gas... so I did."

"That was a long trip to get gas." Gina hummed, her voice holding a sense of amusement.

Ricky's lips parted, glancing over to her and then back to EJ, who had already been looking in his direction.

He paused for a moment, his eyes lingering on Ricky, before looking at Gina, "It's hard to find a gas station within twenty miles, Porter."

People in school believe that EJ and Gina have a thing for each other, ever since their amazing performances as Chad and Taylor, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The two of them are more of a brother-sister relationship, especially since Gina is living with Ashlyn. Their conversation was always filled with banter—which is exactly what they were doing right then.

EJ scanned the room, noticing that everyone felt the tension too, "Anyway, I'm going to take a shower."

"Good," Nini said, attempting to lighten the air, "you stink."

He smiled slightly in response, shaking his head, "Thanks, Neens. Appreciate it."

Ricky furrowed his eyebrows, watching EJ carefully as a small smile formed on his lips. Right then, he didn't seem that bad, he seemed like a good guy. And Ricky didn't like the feeling that gave him.

After a few moments of more talking, Ricky continued to watch the boy that he had completely despised the past few months, and began to wonder just why he hated him so much.

Once EJ headed up the stairs, everyone looked over at Ricky, who had just snapped out of his thoughts. Ricky sighed audibly, "I'm going to go eat something."

He hopped off the couch, climbing over Red and Gina's legs to get to the kitchen. Once he reached the kitchen, he heard everyone start to talk about everything under the sun. He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it.

As he searched for something to eat, he heard Kourtney in the living room, who must have just gotten downstairs, "Alright, I just took a cold ass shower in the middle of winter and I want to know which one of you used all the hot water."

Ricky's eyes widened.

—

After what seemed like fifteen peaceful minutes of silence while he was eating yet another bowl of cereal, Ricky was greeted by Ashlyn.

"Hey, Ricky." she said, walking over slowly to the counter that Ricky was leaning over.

He looked up at her, mid-bite, and managed to mumble the words, "Hey, Ashlyn."

She tapped her fingers nervously on the granite countertop, looking down at her hands before looking back up at the boy opposite her, "You should talk to him."

Ricky swallowed, almost dropping his spoon into his half soggy cereal, "Uh, what?"

He couldn't remember the last time he and Ashlyn had ever had an actual conversation, and their first real conversation just had to be about her cousin and his not-so sworn enemy? How nice.

Ashlyn sighed, "You know what I mean. Talk to EJ."

The brown eyed boy furrowed his eyebrows, "Why should I talk to him? Shouldn't he be apologizing to _me?"_

"Look, you both said some pretty nasty things to each other. And I know the two of you don't hate each other, I mean there's definitely something going on there, maybe some weird superiority complex towards each other, I don't know—I haven't figured it out yet but EJ is a stubborn pain in the ass, which means that he won't break until you do."

Ricky's lips parted. Why does everyone think there's something more to this?

Ashlyn noticed how Ricky didn't know how to respond, "He's a great guy. He just has a lot... going on. You just need to get to know him." she continued, "Please, for the sake of the rest of us, just figure it out."

"Okay. I'll go up and talk to him."

It was a lot easier said than done. After Ricky threw his unwashed, half-eaten Cheerio bowl in the sink, he headed up the stairs with growing anxiety in his chest. His heart was beating hard against his ribcage and his palms beginning to sweat.

 _Please still be in the shower..._ he thought as his hand met the door handle.

He swallowed his pride and opened the door, and his eyes immediately landed on EJ. He was standing in the middle of the room, fully-clothed (thank God), drying his hair with a towel. He heard the door open and turned, his eyes meeting Ricky's.

Simultaneously, Ricky's mouth went dry and his mind went blank. All while EJ Caswell was staring back at him with those bright blue eyes and the room was suddenly filled with the largest amount of tension you could get.

EJ cleared his throat and looked away.

Ricky fell out of his trance, his face feeling hot, "Uh, sorry," he let out, "I, uh, came to get my, um—phone."

The other boy nodded his head, glancing over at Ricky, who was still glued to his spot at the door, "I'm not stopping you."

"Uh, right. Yeah."

He basically stumbled over to his phone, which was still rested on the dresser. He picked it up, and pretended to do something important, mentally punching himself in the face as he tried to come up with a way to talk to EJ.

After a few moments of silence, Ricky spoke up, "So, was your shower cold?" Ricky hesitantly looked over at EJ, who was fumbling with something in his bag, "Cause, uh, Kourtney said something about how there was no hot water."

"Uh, it was fine. Not too hot, not too cold."

"Cool."

"Yep."

Ricky wanted to disappear. How the hell was he supposed to make everything okay between them when this is how they have a conversation?

"I'm, uh, heading downstairs." EJ said slowly, as if he was waiting for something, and Ricky could feel his eyes on the back on his head. He bit down on his bottom lip as he heard him make his way out of the room.

"EJ—wait." Ricky dropped his phone onto the dresser and turned on his heel towards the other boy.

He closed his eyes and sighed audibly, "I'm sorry." he said loud and clear, then peeked his eyes open slowly. EJ was almost out the door but stopped in his tracks as the curly hair boy said these words.

EJ's lips parted slightly as he turned around to see the curly haired boy. He was standing by the dresser, nervously playing with the belt loops on his jeans. EJ raised his eyebrows, waiting to hear more from him.

"Look, man, I'm _sorry_. For all of it. Nini was right— we hardly know anything about each other. What is the point in this weird feud thing that we have going on if we never even tried to get along?" Ricky swallowed, watching EJ's bright blue eyes warily as they stared right back at him.

What was he thinking? Is he going to laugh in his face?

EJ knew he was right. About a lot of things. He didn't want to admit it, seeing as he's always been incredibly stubborn.

Ricky took a step forward, feeling his heart in his stomach as EJ's eyes watched him carefully, "Can we just try and make this work? Maybe just start over?"

The shorter boy felt all of his blood rushing to his face as he waited for an answer. He's never had to do this before and it felt so uncomfortable and unbelievably embarrassing, especially in front of him.

EJ tilted his head, crossing his arms, "What makes you think that I want to be friends with you?"

Ricky opened his mouth but nothing came out. His heart began to beat even faster against his rib cage as he looked at EJ. What was he supposed to say to that? _Ouch._

The boy opposite him pressed his lips into a thin line, staring at the mess unfolding in front of him. After a few moments, his lips quirked up into a slight smile, "If we're going to make this work, then you have to understand my sense of humor—I'm just messing with you."

Ricky stood there for a moment, his mouth still hung open, trying to process _that._ Was he supposed to laugh at that?

"What?" he barely choked out.

EJ's face held a look of amusement, "You heard me."

That was EJ Caswell's way of joking? In a time like this? When Ricky was trying to apologize?

Ricky felt like he was in the Twilight Zone, but recovered as quick as he could, "Right. Uh, yeah, cool..."

The taller boy nodded his head, "Cool."

Ricky clapped his hands together as the pair fell into silence again, still not knowing where to go with this newfound forgiveness. How were they supposed to make this work if they didn't know how to talk to each other?

"By the way, I'm sorry too. For everything." EJ said softly, cutting the silence short.

Ricky looked up at him, clearly surprised by this statement, and noticed that he was looking down at his feet with his hand placed on the back of his neck. He could tell how uncomfortable this was for him too, especially the _I'm sorry_ part.

Then, the older boy looked back up, his cheeks tinted a shade of red this time and his eyes holding a lot more words than the ones that he spoke.

It felt like everything between them shifted. There was something different in the air now—still tension but it didn't feel like it did before. The two boys didn't know what to do with themselves, or even what to say to each other.

EJ swallowed, tearing his eyes away from Ricky's, "Uh, we should get back down there."

Ricky nodded, "Yeah. We should probably tell them that we've kind of figured this thing out... Ashlyn mentioned that it was ruining the trip for everyone."

"Ashlyn talked to you?" EJ asked quickly.

Ricky raised his brows, "Uh, yeah, like twenty minutes ago. She wanted me to talk to you."

"Right. Let's go."

Then, without another word, EJ hastily turned and left the room, leaving Ricky alone in the room.

The curly haired boy let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in, then closing his eyes. His lips turned up into a small smile as he shook his head, "Shit."

What did he get himself into?

—

Ricky found everyone in the living room hanging out, and immediately caught EJ's eyes, but then looked away. "Alright, guys," Ricky announced, "EJ and I have decided to work this out... and just say that we're sorry for making the trip miserable."

"Really?" Nini exclaimed, her eyes darting over to EJ, who smiled awkwardly while nodding his head.

"Wow, that was fast." Ashlyn commented, nudging EJ in the arm, who rolled his eyes.

"Yup..." EJ replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's nice to see that you two are finally overcoming your differences." Kourt added.

"Let the enemies to lovers, roommates romance commence!" Carlos joked, a smirk on his face, as he eyed Ricky.

Ricky's lips parted, not really knowing what that means but understanding what he was getting at. The heat rushed to his cheeks, "But—we're _not_ —he's _not_ —"

Carlos rolled his eyes, "Chill, Bowen, I'm just messing with you."

Both Seb and Kourtney laughed, absolutely knowing what Carlos meant by that. Ricky looked over at Red, who held a look of amusement on his face, and then his eyes flickered over to EJ, who was staring down at the carpet staying completely silent.

"So, what should we do?" Seb hummed.

"Well, Kourt, Gina, Ash, and I are going to make dinner in a half hour. You guys can do whatever guys do." Nini explained, clapping her hands together in excitement.

After a few more minutes of talking, the girls decided to get a move on dinner and went to the kitchen. Ricky turned to Red and then practically dragged him upstairs, dying to talk to his best friend about his problems.

EJ watched carefully as Ricky dragged the redhead up the stairs, wondering what exactly they were talking about. He knew that it was about him, but what was Ricky going to say to Big Red that was so important? After a few moments of pondering, he decided to push the thought out of his head and hang out with the girls in the kitchen, leaving Seb and Carlos to have alone time.

Upstairs, Ricky fell back onto Red's bed and ran his fingers through his hair, groaning loudly.

"So? The two of you just made up? Just like that?" Red inquired, sitting on the edge of the bed next to his best friend.

Ricky stared up at the ceiling, "I mean, yeah... it was really awkward though."

"Well, that's a good thing, right? You two are finally going to figure out what's going on between the two of you."

Ricky sat up slightly, eyeing the redhead, "It's already figured out. We just didn't like each other."

Red rolled his eyes, "Ricky, there has to be something else. Nobody just hates each other like that for no reason!"

"Well, we do! I mean— _did_. I still haven't figured him out yet."

"At least the two of you are on the same page and moving on. It's a start."

Ricky shrugged, silently agreeing with the other boy. It is a start, but where are they supposed to go from there? It's not like they're going to be besties!

"So," Ricky said, "what have you been up to?"

"I've just been hanging out all day, and playing Fortnite on my phone because I can only get so much of hanging out with Seb and Carlos—they have all of their own inside jokes..."

"Oh shit, I literally forgot about the Fortnite app! Guess I've been a little distracted... We should play while we wait for dinner." Ricky sat up, grabbing his phone quickly.

"It's on, dude." Red smirked, pulling out his phone from his pocket, a groan escaping from his lips, "Shit, I'm at one perfect, I guess I've been playing for too long."

Ricky laughed, "Charge it, man! Hurry up!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Big Red rushed over to his charger and plugged it in. And then they got to playing.

—

After about two hours and five rounds of Fortnite passed, everyone sat around the dining room table having just gotten done eating their dinner. And currently, the group of teenagers were arguing over who would clean the kitchen. The girls, who had just spent the past hour and a half "slaving" over dinner and destroying the kitchen, decided to leave a mountain of dishes in the sink.

"Alright well, someone has to do the dishes!" Gina exclaimed, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Listen, I would just love to do the dishes, but I just painted my nails last night!" Carlos said, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I think whoever left their half eaten bowl of Cheerios in the sink this morning should be the one." Kourtney's eyes went straight to Ricky, who groaned audibly.

"Come on! I cleaned it up once I got down here!" he shot back, pouting slightly as he took in the glare Kourtney was sending his way.

"Ricky should be carrying his weight around here!" Nini joked.

"Nini!" he groaned, "now that's just cruel."

"Now that I think of it, I would like to see Ricky cleaning up a mess." Gina chimed in, smirking at the curly haired boy.

Ricky sighed in defeat, crossing his arms, "Fine. I'll do the dishes, but I'm going to need some help!" he turned to his best friend beside him, giving him a sheepish smile.

"I'm good, thanks though, Rick."

Ricky's smile fell, "Dude!"

"I'll help you." EJ spoke up, causing everyone to glance in his direction. Ricky's head turned quickly towards the boy, and a wave of surprise washed over him.

Their eyes met for a few moments, before EJ tore his blue eyes away and shrugged, "What? We should try to get along anyway."

Ricky swallowed, feeling his cheeks suddenly burn at the idea of doing dishes with EJ. It felt a little personal to him for some reason—them being alone in the kitchen, standing close to one another and washing the dishes. Maybe he's just overreacting?

"Okay, well, we'll let you two get to it." Seb smiled at the two, trying to break the tension that had just filled up the room.

Everyone got up and took care of their plates, then headed to the living room while EJ and Ricky were left standing in the kitchen.

Ricky stood staring at the pile of dishes in the sink, and exhaled audibly, "You know, for Carlos' family being this rich, you'd think they'd have a dishwasher."

EJ nodded his head, "Yeah... you'd think."

Wow. This was going to be _so_ much fun!

"Uh, so, how should we do this?" Ricky glanced over at the brunette, who stood with his hands on hips, eyeing the mess carefully.

"I'll wash—you dry." EJ stated and started searching through the draws to find an extra dish towel. Once he found one, he tossed it to Ricky and got right to work.

Ricky furrowed his eyebrows, his lips quirking up slightly, "You like cleaning, don't you?"

EJ looked up from his task, catching Ricky's brown eyes, "What makes you say that?"

Ricky looked down at the counter, waiting to dry the dishes, "I don't know, you just seem very clean... you always fold the blankets and make the bed, and your car was pretty clean that one time, I don't know."

EJ felt heat rise to his cheeks, and paused for a moment, focusing on the plate he was washing. He couldn't understand why he felt this way over silly little observations made by Ricky Bowen.

He cleared his throat, "Yeah, I guess I do. I can't stand when things are messy."

Ricky nodded his head slowly and hummed in response. They were complete opposites in that sense—he could lie in his filth all day and not care whereas EJ needed everything clean.

They fell into silence and Ricky waited patiently for EJ to hand him something to dry. He felt awkward watching him scrub the plate that he was currently washing, but where else could he look? Plus, the way that Ricky could see his muscles flexing as he scrubbed the plate was a nice sight.

 _Oh, God_ —it was happening again. Just like the other day, when he saw EJ topless with a towel hanging from his hips and he couldn't get that thought out of his mind.

Ricky's cheeks burned slightly and he adverted his eyes to the dish rag that he was holding, trying to get the thought of both his arms _and_ his abs out of his mind.

"Here," EJ said gently, causing Ricky to look up at him quickly. Their eyes met, and then Ricky looked down at the plate that EJ was holding, and took it.

He dried the plate off, and then searched around the kitchen for where they kept the plates and finally found the cupboard in which they were kept in. He walked back over to the sink and EJ handed him some more.

This went on for a while, them falling in and out of silence and only exchanging a few words with one another while handing each other the cleaned kitchenware. They could vaguely hear the laughs of their friends coming from the living room while they cleaned.

Now that EJ was washing the last pan, Ricky was leaning against the counter, waiting for him to finish while stealing a glance at him every now and then. He was concentrating really hard on making each dish the cleanest that they could be, and frankly Ricky found himself watching him too intently whilst getting a warm feeling in his stomach.

And EJ pretended not to notice that Ricky was stealing one too many glances in his direction. But, to say he didn't like it would be a lie. He liked it but he didn't know why. So he focused really hard on making sure that pan was squeaky clean.

Once they finally finished the dishes, and cleaned the counters off, they took care of the dish rags and did a final sweep of the dining area and kitchen. They met back in the kitchen, and stood there for a moment.

"Thanks," Ricky said, bringing his hand up to his neck, "for helping. I, uh, appreciate it." It felt awkward getting those words out, but he really did appreciate it.

EJ's blue eyes met Ricky's brown ones, and then he nodded his head, "No problem."

With that, the two teenage boys greeted their friends in the living room. Ricky found a seat next to Red and EJ sat next to Ashlyn—which happened to be on the opposite ends of the living room, nowhere near each other.

"Thanks for doing the dishes, guys." Ashlyn smiled warmly, and then everyone followed, flooding them with _thank yous._

The pair glanced at each other from across the room, and then adverted their eyes elsewhere. They both mumbled responses to everyone.

"So, who what movie are we watching?" Red asked, sitting up in his seat.

"While you guys decide, I'm gonna go get snacks!" Nini got up from her seat and ran into the kitchen.

Everyone had decided to watch the newest Spider-Man movie, Far From Home—Ricky, Red, EJ, and Gina's reasoning being that they loved marvel movies, and the rest agreed because they think Tom Holland is cute (Ricky didn't argue that point, either).

—

After their movie hangout was over, everyone decided to head to their rooms for the night. Everyone headed up the stairs around the same time, saying goodnight to each other in the hallway as they all went their separate ways.

EJ walked into their room first and Ricky followed him in. He closed the door behind him, watching EJ carefully as he grabbed a pair of sweats and went into the bathroom.

"You know," Ricky said, clearing his throat, and walking over to his duffel bag, "We should probably get to know each other a bit more."

He nervously fiddled with things in his bag, anxiously waiting on the other boy's response, hoping that he wouldn't say no. Ricky couldn't understand why his opinion mattered so much to him, or why he's so scared of him " _rejecting"_ him.

A few moments later, EJ came out of the bathroom, stopping in his tracks to look at Ricky, "Sure."

The younger boy looked back at him, and his eyes immediately went down to his bare torso, causing his lips to part and cheeks to redden. He quickly adverted his eyes to EJ's face, who's lips were pressed in a thin line.

He definitely saw Ricky stare at his bare chest for a moment too long, and he _definitely_ couldn't figure out why it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach. So, he looked away and moved over to his bag, putting his things away.

Ricky grabbed a random pair of sweatpants and a shirt, then basically ran into the bathroom. He changed into the clothes and brushed his teeth, and made his way out of the bathroom to see EJ sitting on the bed, scrolling through his phone.

Ricky put his dirty clothes in his bag, and grabbed both his phone and the blankets. He made his makeshift bed on the floor, then sat down in it, with his back against the edge of the bed.

"So," EJ broke the silence, "do you have any siblings?"

Ricky shook his head, even though they weren't looking at each other, "Nope. Just me. You?"

"Same here."

"Um, favorite color?" Ricky stared ahead of him.

"Orange." EJ replied.

"Mine's blue, I guess."

"Favorite food?" EJ asked, "I love Italian food."

"Grilled cheese." Ricky hummed, staring down at his phone in his lap.

"Grilled cheese?"

"Yeah." Ricky murmured, "What about it?"

"It makes sense." EJ replied, "but I honestly don't like grilled cheese."

"How do you not like grilled cheese? It's a classic!"

He heard EJ laugh lightly, causing his cheeks to redden slightly.

"It's just not good."

Ricky scoffed, "Well, you've never had _my_ grilled cheese."

After a few moments, EJ responded, "I guess I'll have to take you up on that someday."

Ricky's eyebrows knitted together as he heard the words come from EJ. He didn't know why that response made him feel some type of way, and especially made his cheeks burn even more. _Weird._

He cleared his throat, "Uh, so, what are you planning to do after high school?"

The other boy was silent for a few moments, before responding, "I'm actually going to UCLA for water polo," he paused. "I haven't really decided on a major yet."

Oh, so he's smart, talented, _and_ actually good at water polo? Is there anything he can't do?

Ricky knew that he was captain of the water polo team but he never thought that he was good enough to get a scholarship. Maybe he was just blinded by his complete and utter dislike of him to see he was good at it. That, _and_ Ricky had never even been to a water polo match nor does he know how the game works.

"That's cool." Ricky said simply, not really knowing what else to say.

EJ cleared his throat, "Do you know what you want to do? You know, for college."

Ricky stared ahead of him, his eyebrows knitting together as he thought about it. He'd never really thought about college or what he was going to do with his life. Truthfully, the thought of leaving high school frightened Ricky completely. He hated change. And change is scary.

"Um," he let out, "I guess not. Not yet at least."

"You've got time." EJ said softly.

The younger boy could hear shuffling on the bed, followed by, "We should probably get to bed. It's getting late."

Ricky nodded his head in response, even though he knew that EJ couldn't see him, "Yeah."

Without another word, EJ got comfortable in the bed, plugging his phone into his charger and turning the light out as soon as he knew Ricky was all situated on the floor. Ricky laid on his back, his eyes wide open as he stared at the dark ceiling.

His mind was wide awake, replaying all of the events of that day. That morning he was scared shitless to even talk to EJ but at least now they've had two solid conversations, and honestly? Ricky _didn't_ want to punch him in the face. EJ wasn't all that bad.

Like Ricky, EJ was wide awake with his thoughts. He couldn't figure out why he didn't like the curly haired boy so much in the past. Sure, their conversation and attitudes towards each other now is stiff and awkward but maybe they'll end up liking each other even more with time.

Maybe they won't be the best of friends, but Ricky felt good where they stood. Granted, it still felt a bit awkward but it wasn't like before. They were both trying.

"Goodnight, EJ." Ricky let out quickly, in almost a whisper, secretly hoping that the other boy had fallen asleep by then.

Though it took EJ by surprise, he decided not to overthink it, "Night, Ricky."

Besides, a lot could happen in just a few days.

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is my second rj fic!! basically this is me vs being obsessed with rj and harry styles. stream fine line <3


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